The excitement is building as we prepare to set out on a journey that started many years ago. A journey that will bring the siblings of Lilbern and Juanita Collins, and their spouses together to reminisce and lie about all of the good and bad things that happened to us as we were growing up. The main trouble is that it is very hard, if not impossible, to remember any of the bad things that happened to us as we were growing up. There was an incident involving someone holding a spark plug wire while someone else cranked over a motor, but let us not get into that. OUR CLOTHES ARE PACKED AND WE ARE READY TO GO.
Dwayne, Marlene, Doris and Jim have left their home base in Texas and are traveling toward our destination of Nashville, TN. for a Saturday evening showdown in The Grand Ole Opry. Judy, and I, Steve and Charlene are starting out in the morning and will meet the Texas group in Nashville. Steve, Judy, and I will be traveling on motorcycles
and Charlene will be following behind in her car. That way, when we break down, we will still be able to still meet in Nashville.
We are pulling a trailer, and it is our job to see just how much luggage, shoes, tarpen shells, and whatever other thing that we probably will not use on this trip, that we can fit inside this trailer. Before pictures:
And after. We still have room for enough food, pop, toilet paper, towels, camera, Daren’s coat, 1 CB radio, and a Hershey Candy Bar.
We are getting ready to eat a pizza, wash the tub, straighten up the house, take a shower, and then fall into bed. We will be leaving at 6:00 A.M. in the morning and meeting up with Steve and Charlene somewhere along I-57. I bet I won’t sleep a wink because I am all fired up!
SATURDAY JUNE 18
Last night was just like Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, I would be all excited about the next morning and opening presents that I could hardly sleep. That is the way it was last night. The excitement of being able to ride the cycle with my wife and brother and sister-in-law kept me awake most of the night.
We were packed and heading out of the garage at 5:55. Plans were to meet Steve and Charlene at the rest stop at Pesotum. On the way there, we were able to communicate with them via CB. Judy and I arrive first and parked, knowing that there were only 2 miles behind us. We got off the trike and started talking to another couple who had a trike. Time went on and no Steve and Charlene. I started thinking that I had misunderstood and maybe they were just going to catch up with us down the road. I happened to look about a quarter of a mile down the road and here came Steve and Charlene walking into the rest stop from the South. Steve was so enjoying his cycle and riding that he forgot to pull into the rest stop. Charlene called him on the CB and said, “Weren’t we supposed to stop there. “ By the time that they got stopped, they had already passed the entrance and walked back to tell us. We drove down to them and thus started our journey.
Steve led, then Judy and I, then Charlene followed in their car. The morning air was brisk as we made our way toward Nashville where we would hook up with Dwayne, Marlene, Doris, and Jim. South of Effingham the sky started getting an eerie black and grey color. It was decided that we get off at the next exit and get our rain suits on because we were definitely going to be doing some riding in the rain. After pulling into a small gas station, we had just enough time to park the bikes and get inside.
It started to really dump buckets of water. We were happy that we had some shelter. It was still raining as we left the station but we knew that we had to keep moving to make our meeting in Nashville.
Steve took the lead again and this would be the first time that he had ridden in the rain. He was a real trooper and set the pace for us. I liked riding with him because he rides the same way as I do. He does not enjoy speeding but just enjoys the journey and watching the countryside.
Of course there was just no way that we could pass by Marion and not stop by the cabin. The driveway going up to the cabin was a little washed out so Steve decided not to try to take his bike up the drive. He hopped into the car with Charlene and up the drive we went. I pulled our trike in front because I had wanted to take a picture of the trike in front of the cabin.
After pulling into Kentucky, we were getting pretty hungry so into a Subway we went. Sub sandwich and coke tasted great but before long, we had to hit a rest area to get rid of the coke. After getting off of the trike, I noticed Steve in the background giving himself a wedgie.
After arriving in Nashville, we had just enough time to unload our vehicles and head out for the Grand Ole Opry.
It was Old Star night as they had several of the Stars from the past. It was quite entertaining and we knew most of the songs. There was a special guest Saturday night that I didn’t realize had this much talent. Robin Meade from CNN sang several songs and even square danced. We were quite impressed. She was very talented.
We were quite famished when the Opry was over so we went to Ruby Tuesday’s for supper. Being that it was almost 10:00, most of us bypassed supper and went right to the important stuff, desert! After our tummy’s were full, back to the hotel we went. I crashed into bed and slept like a baby, ……..cried all night and pooped my pants.
SUNDAY
We all crashed after the Opry and slept quite well. Our meeting point Sunday morning was the cafeteria located in the Hotel. The breakfast was good though not cheap. I did however have some of the best French Toast that I had ever eaten. It stormed during breakfast so we decided to wait out the storm. After it passed, we all loaded up and hit the road. I believe that we set a record in driving 200 miles in only 8 hours. We arrived in Pigeon Forge to learn the exact location of the cabin that we were staying in. It would take us another 20 miles of driving to get there and when we did, we learned that we would need a 4 wheel drive vehicle or small helicopter to reach it. It was so high up this mountain that I started to get a nose bleed, and thought that I would need extra oxygen. After unloading our vehicles and taking the tour of our living quarters for the next few days, we were quite tired. Some of the travelers, I will not say who, just couldn’t go any farther and needed to rest up.
I had received a nice Fathers Day gift from my lovely and gracious wife so I decided to show it off.
I am not quite sure what Judy had in mind in giving this to me but I really think that there might be some hidden meaning to it. After laughing and telling stories, it was off to bed.
MONDAY
Morning came early for some and the designated meeting place was on one of the 3 porches.
An hour or so later, some of the rest of the crew assembled on the porch while Jim showed off his new socks without the holes.
After a brief breakfast, we were ready to get down to the real reason that we came half way across the United States to meet, GAMES.
Mexican train was the game of choice and we started having a tournament. Judy was having a lousy time as shown in the picture below.
One of the highlights of this particular cabin, and we didn’t have to pay extra for it, was what we Northerners refer to as the “Kamikaze Cardinal”. This is a picture of the said bird.
Quite a lovely piece of creature. Unfortunately, he has had some brain damage. As you can see in the following pictures, he is somewhat retarded.
This poor birds sole purpose in life is to fly at speeds up to 27 miles an hour head first into every door and window of this cabin. All day long, all we hear is thud, thud, thud. It appears to me that he is fulfilling his mission in life but I am also quite sure that he will have a short life. I hope that I do not have to go outside and give that stupid bird mouth to mouth or chest compressions. I wouldn’t want anyone to catch me blowing into some little pecker.